Rama, Saskatchewan

Rudolph Krusak remembers when St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Rama, SK. was built. The church was painted by Zabolotnyi, a well known iconographer in the area. He did all of the painting in the church using scaffolding and the work took him two years to complete. He would spend winters at his home in Canora and return to Rama in the spring to paint until winter came again. He slept on a cot in the corner of the church while he was painting. He was a real artist and had a great eye for details. Rudolph’s father was the president of the church at that time and he remembers driving by one time and seeing Zabolotnyi outside of the church with the doors open. He heard Zabolotnyi saying: “It’s no good. It’s no good. I don’t want that to be the feature.” What he was commenting on were the posts. He had just painted marbling on them and that made them very striking and visible. Looking at the interior from the outside, Zabolotnyi noticed that the marbled posts were now the most prominent feature and that was not the effect that he wanted. To correct the situation, he made the marbling less distinct. With this correction, he achieved what he was after. Now, when you enter the church you don’t notice the posts. The iconostas is what catches your eye – the exact effect that Zabolotnyi was after.

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